Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Shannon Earle, who is a life coach with Coach with Shannon. Welcome.

Shannon Earle: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to learn about your practice. Tell us about coach with Shannon. How you serving folks?

Shannon Earle: Um, well, I have been working with clients for the past, um, 18 years and a whole bunch of different capacities. Um, I started out working with young adults who were meeting some assistance and kind of finding their confidence. And then I worked with their parents, and then eventually I moved into creating my own kind of coaching practice. And now I work with anyone who is ready to shift maybe their mindset so that they can start to move in the direction that they want to. So I have athletes, I have parents, I have CEOs, I have, you know, really anyone who’s really ready for a change.

Lee Kantor: So what are some symptoms that a person might, uh, be ready for a change or might consider getting some coaching?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Good question. Um, I think that a lot of the times what I see with clients is that they come to this place where they feel like there’s no hope. You know, like the brain has kind of created these limiting belief systems, um, throughout their lives to the point that they can’t see outside of that, the possibilities have kind of dimmed. Um, and they’re just they’re at this place where it’s like, okay, this is not how I want to be living my life. Um, I would like something different, but I’m not really sure how to get there. And so when they then show up like that, it’s just amazing to help them understand what the brain is doing to keep them in that state, and how they can start to kind of work around what’s happening until the brain starts to understand that they would actually like to live a different life. Um, so yeah, usually it’s like for me, I think in my 40s, it was like I felt like I was in a tunnel and I was just like, is this it? Like, is this what life’s gonna be like? Um, for young adults? I think it’s a little different for them, and it’s more of probably self-doubt. They’re just like, I’m not really sure what I’m doing. Um, and helping them gain some control over what it is they’re thinking so that they start to gain that confidence. So it’s a little different depending on the age of the client.

Lee Kantor: Something you said that struck me was you said the brain is doing this. So how does that come about? Like, is this just kind of a result of a bunch of habits? Or you’re kind of like, I picturing kind of a record where it’s just a needle in a groove, just going over, kind of creating a pathway that maybe isn’t serving you.

Shannon Earle: Yeah. So it’s not a bad, um, description of you get into these grooves. It’s, you know, what neuroscience is saying is that we have these neural wiring systems in our heads, and they get created based on what’s happened in our lives. So one of the statistics that neuroscience figured out was that we take in 11 million bits of information in a second, but the brain and its beauty will edit it to 40. So you’re only receiving 40 bits of information out of 11 million. 11 million that actually happened, was said it was around you, but your own. Your brain’s editing it because you can’t actually handle all of that information. The problem is, is that those 40 bits are based in maybe when you were five, right? Like whatever happened, the brain was laying down the wiring to get you to where you are now, making quick work. It’s always wanting to make quick work of what’s happening. So when something happens, the brain’s going, oh, well, this is just like when you were 13. So this is what’s happening. It’s just it’s not always accurate. It’s just old. And so if we’re wanting to approach life a little bit differently, we actually have to start to create new neural nets in our head for the brain to follow.

Shannon Earle: And the way to do that is through our thoughts, right, is to think in a new way, which isn’t easy because the brain’s like, let’s not do that. Let’s do it tomorrow, right? I don’t really feel like it. It doesn’t really like new the brain. It prefers to stick with what we know, even if it’s miserable. It’s easier for the brain. Doesn’t have to use as much energy. And so my job as a coach is to help. I’m outside of that neural system. Right. And I get I can see it a lot easier than, say, the client, because it’s hard when it’s yours, because it feels real. Um, then I can start to help create that new neural wiring. Right? And then with practice, the brain eventually will just kick in. It’ll be its new automatic. But the beginning part is more challenging because we have to bring our awareness up and we need to be able to understand that what we’re thinking, because the brain’s always thinking, it’s always having some sort of thought process. We’re just not always consciously aware of what it’s thinking. But those thoughts are creating our perception of what’s happening in front of us, which then we respond to the world in a certain way.

Lee Kantor: So how did you develop this methodology that kind of gets people out of this rut and opens their mind to, you know, this new pathway or doing things a different way in order to get a different outcome?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Um, well, I have to say I have to give a lot of thanks to the young adults I worked with because they were not, um, coming on purpose. They were very resistant. And so I honed my skills in having to kind of show up differently all the time. And then I’ve just I’ve studied and didn’t really read a lot about neuroscience. Um, I had an amazing teacher who helped me kind of uncover some of the tools. It’s there’s there’s so much information out there. It’s just sometimes putting it all together and being creative enough to say, okay, well, that didn’t work, so let’s try this. Um, but I’d say it’s I’ve, I have worked, you know, one on one with people for so long that I think I’ve just got a, I’ve created a huge tool bag to be able to help, um, people kind of work around the resistance that the brain’s going to bring and, and also teach really clear tools of, okay, look, this is what’s happening. So if you want to do it differently, you’re going to need to pay attention and start choosing. Um, but I think mostly I really do think the young adults and their parents. Right. Like, the parents, um, really helped me hone my skills of being able to just meet people where they are and with no judgment. I mean, I’ve heard I’ve heard some of the most horrific stories of people’s lives and watch them overcome them. Um, that really nothing surprises me. Uh, and so I think that that’s a gift that I have of just like, okay, you want something else? And let’s get there. And there’s no judgment on who you are or where you are. Let’s just start to practice what you do want.

Lee Kantor: Can you share a little bit about maybe some of the behind the scenes so a listener can visualize what happens when they’re when you’re speaking with one of your clients, like they’ll come to you. And you mentioned some of the reasons they come to you. Are you, um, kind of prescribing a hey, try this exercise. Um, are you just listening to them or do you give them homework? Like what? What are some of the actions you recommend them taking and what how do they come back to you with kind of the result of that? And then how do you kind of make whatever tweaks necessary in order to keep them on track or keep them at least trying to create these new pathways.

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Um, so a little bit of all of that. Uh, in the beginning, when I first have a new client, there’s a little bit more on my side of teaching because I want them to have an understanding of some of the basics of what the brain is doing.

Lee Kantor: So they have to buy that, right? They have to buy into that premise. Right? That the brain there’s neuroplasticity, that it’s not a permanent thing. That what was yesterday isn’t necessarily what’s going to be tomorrow. They have to intellectually believe that in order for any of this to work. Right.

Shannon Earle: Sure, absolutely. Um, and it’s interesting because, you know, we all have our, our belief systems. And so some people are going to lean in a little bit faster and some are going to lean in a little bit slower. But yes, without a doubt, like they need to have a a want. And even if they have to suspend disbelief, like, just like I don’t really I’m not really sure that what you’re saying is true. That’s okay. As long as they’re willing to lean in a little bit and try it out. Usually at that point that it’s going to work right. Things are going to start to change. Like, I’m not really sure what’s going on here, but this feels different. Um, if they can get to at least that, then it starts to make sense. Because if you think about it, so what I’m bringing is so new, a lot of the times, not as much, because it’s so out there in the world right now about how the brain’s plasticity is malleable. Um, but it’s new and the brain’s going to resist it. So if we can just work our way through to where we’re creating just slight new neural net to where the brain’s like, oh, I understand what you’re saying, because in the beginning, it doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Shannon Earle: Sometimes it seems too easy, even though it’s not. Um, so it’s absolutely the client needs to want to. And the clients that show up and they’re just ready. It’s unbelievable what they can do in such a short period of time. Because some of the things like just to give you an example, that can be kind of challenging is, you know, we have our current reality and it feels so real. We have all the emotions that go with that reality. We have the thoughts that go with that reality. We’re in this particular space. And my job, a lot of the time, is to then allow and help them create the possibility. Right. Where are you going? Well, that’s not real, right? So the brain’s going to resist that because that’s scary, right? To create a new reality where you’re happy or you have more joy, or you’re in the career that you want. Um, the brain just keeps going. Yeah, but that’s not true. And so it’s my job is to keep this possibility, which is in between, in this unknown uncertainty which we do not like. Um, we can get better at it until that new possibility becomes the new reality.

Shannon Earle: And that’s quite challenging for the brain, because the brain wants to know what’s happening, even if the knowing is going to keep them where they are. And so to suspend that needing to know in order to move towards this new possibility takes practice, and that’s where my job as a coach is to just help, help keep their brains focused on where they do want to go, because the brain’s automatic is what’s wrong or what’s about to be. And if we stay focused on what’s wrong and what’s about to be, we’re going to create more of it, because that’s where the focus is. So the energy goes there and it’s helping them learn how to acknowledge that’s what’s happening because it’s going to. We can’t stop that. It’s biological and keep moving it back to. Yes. But it’s also possible that I can move over here. And I’m going to start looking for things that are moving me in this direction. Right. And so it’s this constant bouncing back and forth until the brain understands this is where we’re going. Right? I’m in charge of what it is that you think. And we’re going to think and move in this direction.

Lee Kantor: Now is it in order to get the, um, complete buy in. And not just the lean in is do you have to come up with ways to get some, like quick early wins? Like something that demonstrates, hey, this is going to work. You know, I know I asked you to suspend your disbelief for a minute, but there we’re on a path that is going to get the outcome you desire. Do you have to? Is there a way to demonstrate kind of, um, evidence? That’s not just I want that I hope that I wish that, but something like, oh, yesterday it was this, and today it’s this, and then tomorrow it’ll be this other thing. Is there ways or exercises you can do or the listener can do right now that can show them evidence of the possibilities?

Shannon Earle: Um, yeah. Uh, you know what I when clients come to me, I, I have them, you know, sign up for a certain amount of, uh, calls because I know the bounciness that’s going to happen for the brain and resistance, so that I have that in my favor and that, you know, within, you know, six calls, things should be moving. Um, but just for the listeners today, the one thing that I would say is, um, the brain’s going to give you an automatic answer to whatever it is it’s happening. It’s just going to tell you, here’s what’s happening. And what I’d say is maybe, you know, that might be the accurate answer. But if you can start to practice just within things that don’t just anything in your life actually. So you’re driving along and someone cuts you off, you have an automatic response to that. And instead of just going with the automatic response and following the neural net that that takes you down, stopping for a minute and saying, okay, how else could I respond to that? Right. And find 3 or 4 other ways, not right ways. You’re not trying to, um, fix the situation. You can’t. The person already cut you off. You’re just trying to come up with some creative ways to approach whatever just happened, and it could be in any area.

Shannon Earle: Say you have kids and your kid does something, spills something all over important paper, you’re going to have an automatic response. So you could then say, okay, I’m going to look for other responses that I could have had. You could be like, oh my gosh, that was brilliant. It’s like a monet. Like, did you see how it spilled all over that right now? That’s not automatic because the paper was important. It’s chosen. And so it’s looking for different ways to respond to different situations in your life on purpose. And the only way that you can really do that is if there’s the first fast thought that comes which you can’t stop, that it’s going to come automatically, not the one based in your past. But if you can find three other ways to look for, look at a situation and how you could think about it, actual thoughts you could have. Now you have four choices. Choose the one that feels best to you, Not right. It just feels better. So if if my kid spills stuff all over something that’s really important, I’m going to have a wave of just, like, anger, frustration, whatever happens to me. And if I can slow down and say, okay, I could respond in a way that like, oh my gosh, that’s like a monet or oh my gosh, you know what? I didn’t really want this job anyway.

Shannon Earle: Um, which is just crazy, right? And or you know what? I really like the color purple. If it was soup. Now those aren’t. I’m not trying to fix anything here. I’m just trying to get my brain to understand that are options. There’s not just the automatic frustration and anger. I could choose these other things. Right? And once I’ve interrupted what the brain’s doing, now I have a shot at deciding, okay, what am I going to do here? But if you can’t interrupt that automatic response, you actually are not in choice. So I it’s called I call it shopping, but and it’s like looking for 3 or 4 other ways that you could see or perceive or approach whatever it is that’s happening. What else could be happening here? Right? The guy cut you off in traffic because his wife is pregnant, and he’s trying to get her to the hospital. Um, you know, he just, like, was on his phone. Um, I don’t know. Aliens took him over. It doesn’t really matter. It’s that you want to start utilizing your frontal lobe to think differently. And when you start getting good at thinking differently pretty soon now you can start to open up your horizons for the possibilities that exist. So, yeah.

Lee Kantor: Now that’s a fantastic example. Thank you for sharing that. And I think a key element of that is you do this preemptively. You you look at a scenario maybe that’s triggered you in the past, like someone cuts you off and I get angry. And then when there’s no emotion or no stake, then you come up with these multiple other, um, responses that you shop for so that hopefully next time when this happens, your brain already has other choices. It’s not going to that default, you know, just instinctively.

Shannon Earle: Hundred percent because and this is one and this is for all your listeners. The amazing part about the brain is that and I love how you just put that together because it’s so true. Like, we can take scenarios that have happened in the past that really got us and then rewrite them right. Look for 3 or 4 other ways we could have handled it. And the brain, because you’re thinking it, you’re doing it in your head. It thinks it’s happening, which this is a brilliant tool for parents, because if you can get your kids to walk through how they would have responded differently on multiple ways with no energy of that, there’s a right way. That’s the hardest part for parents. Um, now the kid is walking through their head, right? And even us, all these different scenarios, which is what you’re right when. Then something happens again that is high stakes. And you’ve been practicing. Looking for other possibilities in these lower stakes things that the brain’s not really worried about. You’ve got a shot at actually going, whoa, wait a minute. I think I could actually choose how to respond here because I’ve been practicing on the day to day. Right? Like at the grocery store or whatever, when the brain, it’s not resisting you because it doesn’t care if you choose an orange, an apricot or a peach. Right? It’s not making. It just doesn’t mind about that. But you can still practice in all these areas, and you’re building the neural wiring for choice, right? So that you can do it when it’s when it really does matter.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think that this and I think this is one of the benefits of working with the coaches. You can play out scenarios in a safe space so that when there is kind of more, at least perceived stakes or the there is more emotion in a given situation and you happen not to be there. Your clients have now choices and it’s not. They don’t always have to just pick the default that they’ve always picked. Now they see that, oh, there’s five other things I could be doing here. And I’m going to pick this one. This is going to make me feel better at the end of the day.

Shannon Earle: Absolutely. And you know when we can move into choice I have a client that it’s amazing what she’s done. Like, so her husband said to her one day, I want a divorce. And she did not want a divorce, right? And so then, knowing that I had a period of time to work with her, I. We decided she’s like, okay, so you’re not tell him I’m not thinking about that or talking about that until July. So she had some space and time, right, to start to shift who she was being and how she was being without putting all her energy into my life is over. I’m getting a divorce, right? Because once we shift our thinking towards this is terrible, which I’m not saying that it’s not. Nobody wants to hear that, right? But if we focus then on that, we’re going to we’re moving in that direction. We’re moving towards divorce. And she didn’t want to. And so for the last, you know, I don’t know the period of time that we worked with each other, she started focusing on. Nope, I want to stay married. What do I need to do for that to happen and start shifting who she’s being and how she’s thinking and paying attention and being aware of her life. And she transformed a lot of the things she wanted to transform anyway.

Shannon Earle: And the husband is not really sure what’s happening. Right? He wasn’t sure like, what the heck’s happening and whether or not they’ll stay married or not, I don’t know, but there’s a lot better shot at them staying married with her, deciding and putting all my energy into the thing I do want. Even though throughout our time together, her brain kept moving back towards, oh my God, this is a catastrophe, right? This is terrible. And and with her saying, you know what? Take time to catastrophize. It’s okay. Just don’t let it go all day long because that’s not your goal. Your goal is not getting divorced. Your goal is staying married. So I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s the kind of stuff that I’ll do with a client is really helping. If you have a goal, it’s helping keeping that brain focused over there, even though the brain’s going to constantly want to attend to what could go wrong. Um, but you just don’t want to stay there. You can stay there for a little while. There’s nothing wrong with catastrophizing. There’s nothing wrong with feeling sad or any of that. Just do it on purpose and give it a time frame so that 90% of your day is on purpose, focusing towards what you do want.

Lee Kantor: Right? Like, you can feel it, but you don’t have to live it every second of your life. Like there’s a difference there is.

Shannon Earle: It’s like you’re you’re feeling the sadness on purpose for, you know, 20 minutes and then the brain’s like, yeah, remember, you’re kind of sad. Yeah. No, I’m going to give you 20 more minutes tomorrow. Um, and you do actually take the time to feel all those feelings on purpose so that you can then be free to create the rest of your day, right?

Lee Kantor: It’s like you like to have dessert, but you don’t want every meal to be dessert.

Shannon Earle: Exactly. Really great analogy. Yes.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, let’s talk a second about the the business of coaching. You mentioned you serve so many different groups of people. Like what is it? How do you get a client in any given. Like, how do people know to to choose Shannon. Like, how do you, um, you know, get the the calls you need in order to get the clients you need in your marketing?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Um, you know, it’s been amazing. I actually feel really blessed that, um, I most of my, almost all my clients are word of mouth. Like, it just people talk about what’s happened for them, or people are watching people’s lives transform and change. And so then they reach out to me. I’ve, you know, I have my website, which is wrong on the little thing. Um, coach Shannon. Um, but really it’s word of mouth, which, you know, I think with coaching, it’s kind of like you want somebody, you know, uh, somebody used and it’s been effective because it’s it’s so personal. Um, I also I work with, um, Fresno State swim team. Um, so that’s the athlete piece. Is that actually coach the team? The women’s team, um, uh, every week during their season, um, which is I was a swimmer in college. I swam at ASU, and, um, so that’s how I get the athletes is people start spreading that that mental performance side. Um, but yeah, mostly it’s word of mouth. Um, I do have Instagram for parents, uh, where I focus because I’ve, I’ve worked a lot with parents of young adults. That’s been the 13 years I was working at a program. Um, but yeah, mostly it’s been word of mouth, which has been amazing. Uh, and, uh, you know, I just I’m always honored that somebody would say, hey, you should work with Shannon now.

Lee Kantor: We didn’t even, uh, maybe we can get this in a future episode. But just the mental toughness element of sports is. Must be just a really interesting, uh, part of your job as well, having come up through the ranks as an athlete.

Shannon Earle: Yeah, absolutely. I.

Shannon Earle: You know, I went off to college at 18 to go, and I was at this, you know, I didn’t even really understand what I’d gotten myself into. But, you know, a D1 school, Pac ten at the time, and I was not mentally prepared for just just catching up to the fact that I’d made it on a team like that, um, which I think is pretty prevalent among athletes in college in the beginning especially, is that, you know, imposter syndrome. So really helping them with that. But, um, just helping them choose like, okay, so how are you going to show up? I mean, athletes are just like a rare breed in that they they hyper focus in on this one sport and they have so many skills that the thing that I hope I can do with some of the athletes is help them translate those skills that they do in the water, or in water polo or soccer or softball, whatever it is they’re doing over into their life. Um, because that’s the piece that I got into was that when I left swimming, I’d been a swimmer since I don’t even remember when I learned to swim, I think I swam before I walked, um, but when I left college swimming, I was at a loss. I wasn’t sure who I was. And, um. So I help them when they’re in the swimming, you know, in the pool and trying to help them get to the goals that they want. But I also try to help them in that transition into life, which can be quite rough, uh, to, um, shift into, on purpose, the life that you want and take the tools that you learned in swimming with you because or whatever college sport. And I think that the higher level athletes go, the harder the transition can be into life.

Lee Kantor: Right? Because like you said, you started this, you know, at birth almost, and it becomes your identity. And if you don’t have that, then then who are you? It’s a very difficult transition.

Shannon Earle: Absolutely. Yeah. For sure.

Lee Kantor: Well, Shannon, it has been a joy chatting with you. Uh, one more time, if people want to connect, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Shannon Earle: Yeah. Coach Shannon. Com is the website, and I think you have my email on the on your radio. Uh, yeah. And that’s a good way. Yeah. So.

Lee Kantor: Well.

Shannon Earle: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Shannon Earle: Thank you.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.